Pearce’s lawyer: ‘I don’t think he has a conflict of interest as law defines’

Chuck Peterson, defense attorney for Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, told the Senate Ethics Committee this morning that regardless of Senate rules, “There is a kind of notion of fair play in the United States that if somebody is going to accuse us of something,” that they “bring to the table their evidence.” Peterson said, “The focus needs to be on what is alleged in the complaint, not this sort of broad-ranging … looking at each lease. … The complaining parties have no evidence that he received anything different than anyone else who signed those leases with Snake River Oil.”

Peterson said Pearce’s lease is “exactly like the other 255 leases with Snake River Oil in Payette County, nothing different.” Though Pearce didn’t disclose his lease until the final vote in the Senate on the oil and gas drilling bill, HB 464, Peterson said he doesn’t believe he ever needed to disclose it. “I don’t think he has a conflict of interest as Idaho law defines conflict of interest,” he said.